Valentine's Day Chocolates
by YuriCore
Summary: This Valentine's Day, Alice has homemade chocolates for Shinobu. They have a note attached to the ribbon. (Shino x Alice cuteness, obviously)


It was around four in the morning when Alice snuck out of bed, being careful as to not wake Shinobu. She stepped into the kitchen, and pulled out the ingredients she'd bought just yesterday, hidden in unused cupboards. Once everything was assembled on the counter, Alice finally noticed Isami standing in the doorway.

"Isami!" Alice gasped. "What are you doing up so early!?"

"Good question. I need my beauty sleep," said Isami, yawning. "Guess I was just curious about what you might be doing up at this time of night."

Alice looked away, blushing slightly. "I was making Valentine's Day chocolates."

"For Shino?"

"For... No, of course not! I mean... well, yes, Shino, but all my other friends too." Alice stared at the counter.

"I see," said Isami. "Do you need help?"

"I can do it by myself," said Alice. "I'm not a little kid."

"Fine, then," said Isami. She continued to stand there, making Alice uncomfortable. Alice realized Isami wasn't about to leave, so she began making the chocolate, pretending she wasn't there.

"Why aren't you just buying it from a store?" said Isami.

"A gift is more meaningful when you make it yourself," said Alice.

"Well, I hope it will turn out okay."

"Of course it will! I'm making it with love!"

Isami smiled. "Cute. Well, I suppose I'll head back to bed now."

"Yes, do!" said Alice. "You need to rest for your photo shoot tomorrow!"

"Right, right," said Isami. She walked out of the room, and once her footsteps could no longer be heard, Alice let out a sigh of relief. She pulled out the note she would put with Shinobu's chocolate, and it was in Alice's own cute handwriting and read:

 _Dear Shino,_

 _Happy Valentine's Day! I made these chocolates all by myself. I hope you like them!_ _Shino, I want to tell you something. Ever since you made your home stay in England, I've considered you my best friend, even when we were separate for so many years. And now that I'm with you in Japan, I've gotten to know you better, and always being by your side, I've realized that I love you. I decided I would confess this Valentine's Day, because it seemed like a great opportunity. Isn't it horribly cliché? Best regards and thank you always!_

 _Your Valentine's Day admirer,  
Alice_

Just reading the note, Alice felt her face heat up. She imagined Shinobu reading it, and her heart pounded. Taking a deep breath, she set the note back down on the counter and focused on making the chocolate. She began opening up the bags of ingredients and putting them together.

It was a couple hours before the chocolate was done. More than ten pieces were placed in a small plastic bag tied with a pink ribbon. The note, with a hole punched in it, slid onto the ribbon, secured in place.

For a while, all Alice could do was stare at the bag of chocolates and breathe softly, the kitchen quiet with a sense of suspense. The silence was suddenly interrupted with the sound of an alarm clock, and Alice jumped and quickly began putting away the ingredients. It was Shinobu's mom's clock, as Shinobu and Alice were always woken up by Shinobu's mom. Alice finished putting away the ingredients and ran to Shinobu's room.

"Good morning, Alice," said Shinobu.

"Shino!" said Alice. "Morning..."

"Were you already awake?" said Shinobu.

"What? Um, yes," said Alice. "I guess I was excited about today."

"Oh, it's Valentine's Day, isn't it?" said Shinobu. "Are you going to give chocolates to someone?"

Alice's face turned bright red. "Uh... I... well..."

Shinobu laughed. "Never mind. Let's go eat breakfast." She slid out of bed and into her slippers. Alice walked out to the kitchen again, this time to eat breakfast.

Alice ate rice and fish for breakfast, while Shinobu ate muffins and an omelet. Isami came out of her room and stood behind Alice. "Good morning!"

Alice nearly had a heart attack. "Isami!"

"Hi Alice." Isami looked at Shinobu. "Today's Valentine's Day, Shino. Are you gonna confess your love to someone today?"

"What!?" said Alice. "You shouldn't ask such things!"

"Why not?" said Isami.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," said Shinobu. She laughed. "Maybe I will! How about you, Alice?"

"What!?" said Alice, almost spitting out her food. "Do you think I have a crush on someone!?"

"Well, don't most girls have crushes in high school?" said Shinobu.

"Well, maybe..." said Alice, embarrassed. She stood up from the table. "I'm done eating now." She ran to the sink with her dishes and then went to go put on her school uniform. Shinobu was left confused. Isami just smiled and chuckled to herself.

"Alice is acting strange today," said Shinobu. "I wonder if I upset her or something."

"I'm sure it's just your imagination," said Isami.

"Maybe..." said Shinobu, staring at her muffin.

At school that day, Shinobu gave chocolate to all of her friends. It was the same brand of chocolate that other girls gave to their friends, nothing homemade. But each girl got a short note with their chocolates. Alice's said: _Happy Valentine's Day, Alice! Let's spend all of today together!_

"We'll be together forever, Shino!" Alice blurted out after reading her note. Shinobu looked a little confused, then laughed and gave Alice a hug. Alice stiffened up with embarrassment.

 _I'll leave Shino's chocolate with her shoes,_ thought Alice. She walked to Shinobu's shoe locker and put the chocolate in there.

 _My heart has been pounding for hours,_ thought Alice. She hesitated to walk away, but eventually forced herself to go to class, leaving the chocolate with the note in Shinobu's shoe locker.

 _There's no turning back now,_ thought Alice.

Alice felt anxious all through class. She twirled her pencil around, and didn't even realize she was drawing little hearts all over her notes. She was shaking a little, wondering if it was too late to change her mind.

"Alice, can you pronounce this sentence in English for the class?" said Karasuma.

"Oh, yes," said Alice. She looked at the board, but a sentence was not on it.

 _Wait, are we reading from our English textbooks!?_

"Alice," said Karasuma. "We're on page 53."

"Oh!" said Alice. "I'm sorry!" She quickly pulled out her textbook and searched for page 53. Her embarrassment only worsened when she flipped through the pages so quickly that she accidentally tore page 53 from the book. She gasped, grabbed the page and slid it back into the book. Karasuma looked sympathetic.

"It's okay, Alice. I'll read it myself," said Karasuma. She read it, and Alice stopped listening again, distracted by her own disappointment in herself.

 _I can't wait to get out of here,_ thought Alice.

After class, Alice slowly, nervously walked to Shinobu's shoe locker to watch her see the note. She didn't want Shinobu to see her yet.

Alice hid and watched Shinobu pull her shoes from the locker. Before she replaced them with her school shoes, she spotted the chocolate. Smiling, she pulled it out and looked at it. Alice's heart was pounding the hardest it had all day long. Shinobu pulled the note from the ribbon and unfolded it. Her countenance did not change as she read through it, and then she slipped the small piece of paper into her backpack with her chocolate.

With a deep breath, Alice decided to let her presence be known. She walked out of her hiding place and up to Shinobu.

"Hi, Shino," said Alice nervously.

"Alice!" said Shinobu happily. She hugged Alice and touched her blonde hair with one hand. "Your blonde hair is beautiful as always, Alice!"

"Thank you," said Alice, a bit confused. _Well, I guess it's a good sign that she's so happy._ "Shino, did you get my chocolate?"

"Yes, I did!" said Shino with a big grin. "I can't believe you made it all by yourself! Maybe I should stop treating you like a little kid..."

Alice waited for Shinobu to mention the note, but instead she just stood there smiling obliviously. Alice frowned. "What about my note?"

"It was very sweet! You're always so nice to me, Alice!" Shinobu gave Alice a second hug. Alice was still confused. Was Shinobu just going to ignore her feelings?

Alice didn't say anything else about the note, as she and Shinobu left school together. Alice sadly, silently puzzled over Shinobu's non-reaction, until the two separated from their other friends and continued walking to Shinobu's house.

Shinobu continued talking about random events from class that day, until Alice couldn't take it anymore. She had to know what Shinobu was feeling.

"Shino!" Alice interrupted suddenly.

Shinobu was startled. "What is it, Alice?"

"Aren't you going to respond to my note from earlier?" Alice was clearly frustrated.

"Didn't I already?" said Shinobu.

"All you said was that it was sweet and that I'm so nice," said Alice.

"And what's wrong with that?" said Shinobu.

"So are you rejecting me, Shino?" said Alice, almost in tears. "Tell me!"

"What? Rejecting you? Of course not! I don't know what you're talking about, Alice."

"What?" said Alice. "In that note, I told you my true feelings! You read it, didn't you?"

"Yes, but, we always tell each other we love each other. I don't know why it would-" Shinobu paused suddenly. "Wait, did you mean you have a crush on me!?"

"Well obviously!" said Alice. "What else would it mean!?"

"I didn't realize you meant it like that," said Shinobu. "I guess I'm just so used to you saying sweet things to me that I figured it was just your loving personality."

"Shino!" said Alice.

"Sorry!" said Shinobu. "Of course I'm not rejecting you, Alice." She hugged Alice again, for the third time that day. "I love you too! And this is so exciting! A blonde girl is in love with me!" Hearts bubbled around Shinobu's head, causing Alice to blush and look down at her shoes. "How could I possibly reject someone so cute!?"

"You don't think there's anything weird about it?"

"No, nothing weird at all! You know I like girls, don't you? I always imagined something like this happening!"

"You did!?"

"Yes!" Shinobu still held onto Alice; it was as if the hug were permanent. "I'm really happy right now, Alice!"

"So am I, Shino!" Alice hugged Shinobu back. "Really happy!"

As the two continued walking, Shinobu read the note aloud. Alice felt funny hearing it in Shinobu's voice.

"Now that I know what it means, I feel differently when I read it," said Shinobu. "It's so strange, how that is."

"I think I know what you mean," said Alice. "I can't believe I wrote that."

Shinobu laughed. "It's adorable, Alice. I'm going to treasure this note forever!"

When Shinobu and Alice got home, Isami was sitting on the couch. She had just gotten back from her photo shoot about half an hour ago, and was winding down in front of the TV. She turned around to welcome Shinobu and Alice home.

"Welcome back, guys," said Isami.

"Hi, Onee-chan!" said Shinobu. "Look, Alice made chocolate all by herself!" She held up the bag for Isami to see.

"Oh, nice," said Isami. "So did she finally confess to you already? Sure took her long enough. I'm surprised you didn't take the matter into your own hands, Shino. It was painful to watch you restrain yourself for so long."

"Restrain myself!?" said Shinobu. "Restrain myself from what!?"

"Never mind that, Shino!" said Alice. "Let's go into your room now!"

"What are you going to do in there?" said Isami.

"Nothing!" said Alice.

"Nothing?"

"We're going to kiss, obviously!"

Isami grinned. "Good going."

Shinobu blushed as Alice grabbed her back and pushed her out of the room. She left the chocolates sitting beside the couch.

For the next couple hours, Shinobu and Alice were in Shinobu's room, kissing, and talking, among other things. They talked all about their feelings, until they finally felt they had said everything that needed to be said. They eventually came back out to eat dinner.

"Hey, where did my chocolates go?" said Shinobu.

"Oh, you mean these chocolates?" said Isami, holding up the empty bag. "I accidentally ate all of them while you were gone. On purpose."

"Make up your mind! Was it an accident or was it on purpose!?" said Alice.

"I thought you left them there for me," said Isami.

"What!?" said Shinobu.

And later that night, Shinobu texted her friends and told them about her and Alice finally getting together. Their responses were all positive, and Alice heard Shinobu giggle as she read them.

"What is it, Shino?" said Alice.

"Oh, nothing," said Shinobu. "Aya is just jealous of our good luck with love, I think."


End file.
